Where the sea burst over me: Five defining moments in Gilberto Gil's life

Approaching 80 years of age and having been elected an immortal by the Brazilian Academy of Letters, Gilberto Gil is invited to recall the five most defining moments of his fruitful life.

More than half was dedicated to music and other areas of sensitivity and intellect.

With some memories taken from his personal life and his performing career, the singer also recalls some details from his political and social journey. All are recounted with his characteristic straightforwardness, a virtue peculiar to those who have learned to navigate all the senses of time and space. 

Gil starts this journey by choosing his first childhood memory, when at the age of two, he foresaw his future by telling his mother: "when I grow up, I want to be a musgueiro [his childish mispronunciation of musician] and a dad." 

The moment, for example, when my mother asked me what I wanted to be in life, yeah? I told her that I wanted to be a musgueiro and a dad. It was a moment that predicted everything I'd go on to be and it's the first moment that I can call mine, existentially. ...

Next, as part of this prescient feeling that had just come true, Gil tells the emotional story of meeting his first daughter, Nara Gil, in almost film-like detail. She was born in 1966 and was his child by his late ex-wife, the teacher Belina Moreira. 

Because his diary was full of professional engagements, he only got to see his new daughter for the first time in São Paulo, a month after she had been born in Salvador. 

The moment I met my first daughter, Nara, is unforgettable. She was born in Salvador but I was in São Paulo and couldn't be at the birth. Belina had Narinha in Salvador and then came to São Paulo almost a month later. And I went to the airport to meet her, the plane arrived …

... and I asked the airport management if they'd let me go right up to the door of the plane. At that time, there weren't any jetways, the planes would stop and you'd come down the steps and walk into the airport buildings.

I remember running to the door of that plane where Belina was, with Narinha in her arms. And that moment was something else … There I was, holding her in my arms in the middle of the runway at Congonhas airport.

His iconic concert that year, where he performed alongside Caetano Veloso at the Castro Alves Theater (Salvador, Bahia), marked both Brazilians' farewell to their homeland. 

They were both exiled under the military dictatorship, finding refuge in London, where they would live for the next three years. 

The farewell concert, with all the musical and sociological stuff it raised about my life as a musician, when I performed before going into exile. And then I met some extraordinary people and I got to see Jimi Hendrix play on the Isle of Wight just one week before his death.

And to bring this challenge to a close—and it can only be a summary of the countless major events from such a powerful and productive life—Gil could not leave out his public servant/political leader side, which has its roots back in the 1980s in Salvador.

Initially as the head of the Fundação Gregório de Mattos, where he was in charge of managing cultural facilities in Salvador. And then as city councilor, a role he held from 1989 to 1992, having been the most-voted candidate. 

On the same level of magnitude and importance (as the Ministry of Culture), I'd already held office as a city councilor in Salvador first, yeah? Or even my position at the Fundação Gregório de Mattos, which was just before becoming a city councilor …

... It was the first public office that I held and it was a state-level post, because I represented the Municipal State, the municipality of Salvador.